Search & Rescue
by RileyOlsen
Summary: Missing moments spanning the end of Empire and Return of the Jedi. Han Solo is frozen in carbonite, Luke is still reeling from his fight with Darth Vader, and Leia is torn between her loyalty to the rebellion and her feelings for a lost scoundrel.


As the two survivors silently watched the _Millennium Falcon _fly away from the large viewport of _Home One_, Luke wrapped his arm around Leia's shoulders. She leaned into the embrace half-heartedly, torn between her relief that Luke was safe and her anguish that Han was not. That moment when he had been slowly lowered into the carbonite chamber was playing in her head over and over again, and she was powerless to stop it. "_I know." _He knew. He'd probably always known. _What took you so long to say it, Leia?_

Once the _Falcon_, now helmed by Lando Calrissian, was out of sight, Luke turned to Leia. Even though he was physically safe, there was something wrong with him, she could tell. And it wasn't just the hand he'd lost ("_It was Vader; I'll tell you more about it later"_) or his own sadness for his missing best friend. In a strange way, she could sense that there was something more going on, but she didn't have the emotional bandwidth to press him on it.

Her thoughts returned to Han, lost somewhere in space, possibly forever. All of those times he had threatened to leave, usually during a heated argument, Leia had never imagined it would hurt this much. Was it because they'd finally given into their feelings on the way to Bespin? Would this be easier if she'd never touched him, never let him kiss her?

_No_, she told herself firmly. _The regret would be worse._

Luke squeezed her shoulder gently. "We'll find him, Leia," he said, as if reading her mind.

Leia could feel the tears forming in her eyes, and her first instinct was to fight them, as she'd trained herself to do, but why bother? It was just her, Luke, and the droids in this corridor. The trip to Bespin had changed her, and it wasn't just about her relationship with Han. Letting go of the feelings she kept tightly locked down and hidden away had made her feel more human than she had since Alderaan's destruction. She wasn't going to go back to being the unfeeling ice queen.

"I miss him," she admitted softly, feeling a few tears spill over and fall down her face. She wiped them away, shaking her head at her emotional display.

"I know," Luke replied, not at all taken aback by her confession or her tears. "I do too."

Coming to a decision, Leia pulled out of Luke's grasp and turned to face him. "There's something you should know, Luke. About me… and Han."

Luke smiled. "You're in love with him," he said simply, punctuating the statement with a little nod. Not a question, but a fact.

Leia's jaw dropped and she let out a strangled gasp. "How did you know that?" she hissed. "Is it the Force?"

Luke resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but he couldn't help the eyebrow that shot up in response. Leia's cheeks turned red.

"Did everyone know?" she asked incredulously. "I guess it really was obvious," she grumbled to herself, remembering something Han had said to her during the slow crawl to Bespin.

"_I don't know why we're still fightin' about this, Your Highness. How long are you gonna pretend you don't care about me?"_

"_I — how dare you assume — "_

"_Oh, I'm assumin', am I? Then how come the Rogues got a pool going about when we're gonna get together? Antilles and Janson started taking bets right after Yavin."_

Luke resisted the urge to tease her further, though he did make a mental note to let her have it once Han was back. "I can feel how much you care about him, Leia, and how much pain you're in. But I've known for a long time." He pulled her close again. "I was just waiting for you two gundarks to figure it out."

_I know_. Leia smiled as the words echoed in her ears. "I guess we weren't hiding it very well," she said, thinking back to all of the bickering on Hoth. "I didn't want to admit it."

"It was pretty insufferable, all the arguing," Luke teased. "Plus Han followed you around like a newborn thranta, so it was kind of obvious."

A blush crept through Leia's cheeks again and she buried her face in her gloved hands for a moment before shaking her head and smiling. "So we're okay?" she asked him.

Luke let out a chuckle. "Of course," he replied. "Always." He looked her in the eyes, and Leia was surprised how different he seemed than the excited boy she'd known at Yavin and Hoth. Though she'd been drawn to him as soon as they met, and she loved him dearly, in some ways she'd always viewed him as a kid with a crush. Now she realized those days were long gone. "Leia, I love you too, but I understand now that it's different," Luke continued. "You're like family to me. Don't you feel it?"

She nodded. "Everything changed on the way to Bespin," she confessed. "Or — maybe changed isn't the right word. More like, we stopped fighting. Each other… and ourselves." Leia blushed a bit, unfamiliar with talking about such personal matters with anyone, let alone Luke. "Gods help me, but I do love him. That cocky — irresponsible — self—centered — _scoundrel_!" she burst out, laughing in spite of herself. Luke joined in with a quiet chuckle.

"You know, the Rogues had a bet going about you two. When you guys would — well, you know." Both of them broke eye contact, and now the blush was creeping into Luke's cheeks, but Leia couldn't help but smile at the memory of having been with Han. She could practically hear his response in her head: "_This is why they can't get laid, always too busy worryin' about everyone else's sex lives."_

"Yes, I heard about the betting pool," Leia said, deadpan. "Chewie wanted me to tell you that you won."

Luke burst out laughing, and Leia flashed him a smile. For a moment, everything seemed okay again; Luke was here, and surely everything would be all right.

Then she remembered Han, frozen in carbonite, and her smile fell. The mood became somber once again. Luke flexed his mechanical hand in the silence.

"We'll find him," Luke repeated. "You'll get him back."

She nodded shakily, unsure.

"He loves you too, you know," Luke said.

She nodded again, this time with a bit more confidence.


End file.
